New downtown clinic offers easy access to health care

Alluvion Health holds a grand opening celebration for its new health clinic in downtown Great Falls.(Photo: RION SANDERS/GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE)

Alluvion Health unveiled a new main clinic in a former downtown bank on 1st Avenue North in Great Falls Monday that it says will offer easy access to health care for everyone.

Alluvion also is bringing a new model of management to publicly funded health care clinics in the city where it is implementing an integrated primary care model it says is better for the "whole person."

The 17,000 square-foot clinic, which opened in January, has same-day appointments, walk-in care, an on-site laboratory and pharmacy, radiology and behavioral group therapy.

It provides services to patients regardless of income, insurance or ability to pay.

“Our goal is to meet patients where they’re at and eliminate barriers to care,” Alluvion CEO Trista Besich said.

Alluvion showed off the new downtown clinic to the public at ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday afternoon.

“Really, this is our opportunity to reintroduce us to our community,” Besich said.

In 1994, seeing additional need for medical services, Cascade County and the Cascade City-County Health Department applied for a federal health center grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which is part of he U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

That federal funding allowed Cascade County and the Cascade City-County Health Department to operate the Cascade Community Health Care Center at 115 1st Ave. S. for 24 years.

In April 2018, Cascade County submitted a letter of relinquishment in support of the Community Health Care Center becoming an independent entity.

Alluvion Health, a not-for-profit health care corporation, was formed to run the clinic on 1st Avenue South and now it’s opened a second clinic on 1st Avenue North, which will serve as the primary clinic with increased services.

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Alluvion Health's new main clinic is located at 601 1st Avenue North.(Photo: RION SANDERS/GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE)

Alluvion has assumed the $1.6 million yearly HRSA grant that the county had received for clinic operations, Besich said.

“This is becoming a more popular model,” Cascade County Commissioner Joe Briggs said of not-for-profits running community health care clinics.

When the community clinics first opened across the country decades ago, they usually were tied to a local government but that’s changed over time and the Cascade County clinic, still under the auspices of local government, was in the minority, Briggs said.

When the transition occurred, about 80 county employees went to work for Alluvion.

Alluvion, as a not-for-profit, has freedom to compete with for-profit providers, and it's expanding its locations and line of services to reach more people with better care, Besich said.

“We get to be a little bit more nimble,” Besich said.

It has pharmacy services, for example, and it has opened 11 service locations.

When the county ran the clinic, there was no pharmacy, and it had one service location and that was the 4th Street South Clinic.

Alluvion’s annual operating budget is $15.7 million, compared to the $5 million operating budget when it was under county control.

The 1st Avenue North clinic will serve as Alluvion’s main clinic only until it completes a remodeling of the Rocky Mountain Building on Central Avenue, which housed Public Drug and Set Free Ministries before it was severely damaged in a 2009 fire, said Tanya Houston, an Alluvion spokeswoman.

Alluvion has purchased the building, closing on the deal in February.

The two-year project will cost $25 million, including the purchase price.

Alluvion anticipates beginning the first phase of construction late this year. About 200 employees will work out of the building, which will include retail business on the street level.

Eight providers including doctors, physician assistants and family nurse practitioners and three licensed behavioral health specialists are located the 1st Avenue North clinic, which has 20 exam rooms.

For example, a person receiving medical care who might also need assistance with housing, legal matters or mental health issues can find it at the clinic.

Having multiple specialists in one location provides integrated care, and avoids patients having to set up another appointment, which is important in a rural market where the biggest barrier to care is lack of transportation, said Besich, noting that the clinic serves not only the city of Great Falls but the region.

“The idea is it kind of becomes a one-stop shop,” she said.

Cascade County Public Works Director Brian Clifton, who also is serving as Alluvion’s facilities director, said the clinic will have several pods shared by two physicians, a behavioral health specialist and care coordinator.

The former bank, which most recently had been used by a private physician’s practice, was remodeled at a cost of $300,000, Clifton said.

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The X-ray room at Alluvion Health's downtown clinic on 1st Avenue North is in vault. The building once was a bank.(Photo: RION SANDERS/GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE)

Karl Puckett can be reached at kpuckett@greatfallstribune.com or 406-791-1471. To support his work, subscribe today and get a special offer.